SPAB vs VCRB

SPABAState Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF

VCRBAVanguard Core Bond ETF

In short

SPAB A 2007-vintage core bond fund priced at 0.03%: roughly 8,500 US investment-grade bonds in one ticket, at the same rock-bottom fee the household names charge for the same index.

VCRB Vanguard's active answer to its own index bond giant: VCRB roams the US investment-grade market looking to beat the Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, and charges 0.10% to try.

Stated mandate

SPAB The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index before fees and expenses, providing broad exposure to U.S.-dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.

VCRB The fund seeks to outperform the broad U.S. investment-grade fixed-income market, measured by the Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, by investing across fixed-income securities with different maturities, yields, and qualities.

Why people hold it

• SPAB 0.03% a year against a 0.36% median for its peer group, and the same ticket price as AGG, SCHZ and BBAG on the identical index.
• Roughly 8,500 dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds in one line item, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Diversification you could not assemble bond by bond.ssga.com
• Trades actively and has tracked its index closely, putting it among the stronger implementations in the core-bond group.
• Running since 2007, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, and it pays monthly rather than quarterly.

• VCRB Active management at near-index pricing: 0.10% a year, against a typical core-bond fee closer to 0.36%.
• Clear scorecard. It is measured against the same Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index that Vanguard's index fund BND simply tracks, so the active bet is easy to judge.
• Wide net: roughly 1,600 bonds across different maturities, yields and credit qualities, with income paid monthly.
• Already a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, which is rare for a young active bond ETF.

Worth knowing

• SPAB Bond prices move opposite yields. When rates rise the index falls and the fund follows it down; a 0.03% fee cannot cushion that.
• AGG, SCHZ and BBAG hold the same declared index at the same 0.03%. Picking among them comes down to spreads and platform, not the portfolio.
• Investment grade and US dollar only by mandate: high yield and foreign-currency debt sit outside the remit.ssga.com

• VCRB Active means human calls. Returns can drift from the benchmark in either direction, unlike the index route BND takes at 0.03%.
• US investment-grade only. No international sleeve, no high-yield kicker, and like any core bond fund it moves with interest rates.
• Launched December 2023, so its live record is short next to core bond funds with decades behind them.

Full SPAB profile⁠

Full VCRB profile⁠